640x480 for horizontal (or 480x640 portrait) is a very good size for internet posting on forums.
download this free software
www.irfanview.com and use it to rotate and resize your original image BEFORE you upload it to Photobucket or other Hosting services. Saves a lot of bandwidth and time loading, etc. Be sure to "save-as" to a different file name to keep your original picture file un-changed. Irfanview is kind to your jpg files, operating in a "loss-less" fashion for many of it's edits, such as rotations.
be aware that digital cameras produce image files at various aspect ratios, so when you are selecting the size, select 640 on the long side, and let the software determine the short side number. keep "preserve aspect ratio" checked so the it will do this for you. if you don't your image may look scrunched in one way or the other.
select a jpg "quality" setting that gets you a file about 150K in size. They all vary somewhat in size, but 150K will look good on your PC monitors, and won't take a ton of time to load.
wrap the URL to your photo file with the IMG tags as others have suggested for a nice picture in your post.
How do I know, I participate in a LOT of Photography Forums, and most all of them either use this vBulletin forum software, or something similiar.
Also, if you don't mind paying a small fee per year for a good hosting service,
www.pbase.com or
www.smugmug.com are very good, and you or your relatives can order prints of your digital images.
Merry Christmas
-=- Jerry -=-
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